S. Carolina company pleads guilty to planning Iran trade

Allied Telesis Labs, a telecommunications research company with offices on North Carolina State's Centennial Campus, entered a guilty plea Tuesday to conspiring to trade illegally with Iran.

According to a federal court press release, the company conspired to land and carry out a $95 million contract to rebuild telecommunications systems in Iranian cities including Teheran. The guilty plea followed a written plea agreement and required the defendant to pay a fine of $500,000.

The plea came in federal court in Raleigh to charges of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Powers Act, federal court officials said. Attorneys for Allied did not comment during the hearing, but said in a news release that the employees involved in the conspiracy have been fired.